Republicans 'considering' Palin for 2012

Lord help us all............

Conservative Republicans are talking enthusiastically about Mrs Palin as a White house contender next time, acknowledging that if a week is a long time in politics then four years amounts to several lifetimes.

"Sarah's the one," said one leading conservative who is convinced Mr McCain will lose this election. "The party is broken and only she can fix it. We need someone who comes from outside Washington and relates to the aspirations of ordinary Americans."

Mrs Palin appears to be subtly distancing herself from Mr McCain and positioning herself for a presidential run in her own right, much as John Edwards did in 2004 as John Kerry's Democratic vice-presidential running mate.

She has repeatedly stated, often on conservative talk radio, that she would be more aggressive in making the case against Mr Obama while at the same time distancing herself from campaign tactics such as automated telephone calls.

The Alaska governor, a heroine of the Religious Right for her uncompromising stance on abortion – even in cases of rape, she believes abortion should be outlawed – recently said that unlike Mr McCain she supported a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Mrs Palin has also contradicted Mr McCain on policy towards Pakistan, over drilling for oil in Alaska and on de-listing North Korea as a terrorist state. While some believe these are merely gaffes illustrating her uncertainty over policy, others fear she is deliberately undermining the Republican nominee.

She has also made clear she was unhappy with the way she has been "handled" by the McCain campaign, which kept her out of the media spotlight until it felt she was ready and then arranged a series of interviews with network anchors that turned into disasters.

Some Republicans are concerned that Mrs Palin's reputation has been irrevocably damaged among the moderate voters needed to win a general election, and that she is already too divisive a figure.

But Alex Castellanos, a leading Republican strategist said that Mrs Palin could have a bright future. "It depends if she can return to being more than someone who rallies the conservative base.

"For a while, she was much more than that. She represented Americans frustrated with failed government in Washington. She wasn't just a conservative, she was a populist. She was President Harry Truman, she was that Maggie Thatcher figure. She can become that again."

Telegraph